Pick-up truck cargo bed mounted accessories are common and encompass a wide range of applications such as bike racks, tool boxes, bed dividers, tonneau covers, camper tops, cab window guards, load tie-downs and the like. These accessories significantly increase the utility of pick-up trucks and are available from both the original equipment manufacturers of the pick-up trucks and from a large number of aftermarket sources. Despite this widespread availability, a standard method of attachment of the accessories to the pick-up truck cargo bed has never been adopted. Many of the available accessories, such as tonneau covers and camper tops, are deemed semi-permanent and are rigidly bolted to the pick-up truck's cargo bed side walls. This semi-permanent attachment significantly reduces the flexibility of adding alternative accessories. For example, it would be a major undertaking to install a bike rack if a tonneau cover was already in place.
Pick-up truck cargo bed mounted accessories that are considered temporary, like bike racks or bed dividers, utilize a large number of attachment methodologies that range from simple friction clamps, through individual threaded clamps, to rail and clamp systems. Rail and clamp systems were developed much later than simple friction clamps and individual threaded clamps but have now become a common approach to accessory attachment. There are numerous rail and clamp systems described in the art; some are utilized by the original equipment manufacturers and some are available from aftermarket sources. Although original equipment manufacturers tend to standardize on a rail and clamp system for use in their pick-up trucks, there is no commonality between original equipment manufacturers and there are a large number of different configurations in the aftermarket industry. Additionally, the available rail and clamp systems all suffer deficiencies of one type or another.
The prior art discloses numerous approaches to providing a system solution to attaching accessories to pick-up truck cargo beds. U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,704 to Ellis describes an integrated system of accessory components for pick-up truck bodies which are tailored to utilize the minimum possible space in the truck body while providing maximum convenience and usefulness in the storage of tools, fuels and the like. The accessory components are tied together and anchored to the truck body in such a way that undesirable shifting or displacement of components is eliminated. Although U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,704 describes a system solution to attaching accessories to a pick-up truck, the mounting approach consists of conventional bolting either directly to the pick-up body or to a system of tie rails. The mounting and dismounting of accessories in this prior-art configuration would be a difficult and time-consuming undertaking.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,327 to Derecktor describes a rail and clamp type system that consists of a sliding connection especially suited for releasably and adjustably attaching an overhead rack or the like to side walls of a pick-up truck. The sliding connection comprises a track mountable on a side wall of the pick-up truck and a sliding lock member that can be adapted to support equipment, such as overhead racks, a cap, a tonneau cover, load holding devices, tool boxes, vices, saws and the like. In this manner the prior art of U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,327 solves the mounting and dismounting limitations of U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,704 by introducing a rail and clamp type arrangement that simplifies attachment by eliminating the requirement of conventional bolting. However, the sliding connection of U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,327 is not fully integrated into the structure of the pick-up truck as the track is mounted outside of the side wall. Additionally, the sliding lock member clamps to the rail and does not offer a positively locked structural connection. A further limitation of U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,327 is that each accessory requires its own sliding lock member so that the user would be required to walk around or climb into the cargo bed to operate the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,604 to Beene et al. overcomes the mounting and dismounting limitations of U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,704 by eliminating the requirement of using conventional bolting to attach the accessories to the pick-up body. It also offers a single locking member which overcomes one of the limitations of U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,327 in that the operator does not have to walk around or climb into the cargo bed to operate the system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,604 describes a vehicle rack that includes a plurality of apertures which supports different accessories having mounting pegs on a pick-up truck bed. The vehicle rack also includes a plurality of retaining arms wherein each of the plurality of retaining arms is received within a stake pocket of the pick-up truck bed. In this way U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,604 provides a vehicle rack which supports different accessories having mounting pegs on a pick-up truck bed and allows the vehicle rack to be easily mounted and removed from the bed of the pick-up truck. However, the accessory mounting system of U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,604 is not fully integrated into the structure of the pick-up truck and is adapted to be removed when not in use. A further limitation of the cargo management system of U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,604 is that it does not facilitate the attachment of full width, rigid accessories as the mounting pegs would obstruct the installation access on two racks simultaneously.
Another rail and clamp type system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,140 to Anderson et al. which substantially overcomes the integration limitations of the previously referenced prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,140 describes a flexible cargo bed tie-down system that allows the user to easily change, adjust, customize, and adapt his or her vehicle to specific needs at any given moment, and that interfaces with the rest of the truck in an optimum manner from a functional, structural, and aesthetic standpoint. Single or multiple tie-down tracks integral with the body of the truck are provided such that the exterior contour of the tracks do not extend appreciably beyond the contour of the adjacent portion of the body. In this way, U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,140 offers a fully integrated system. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,140 claims that the body and tracks are specifically designed to take large loads but the structural capability of the system is actually limited by its attachment fittings. Each accessory requires its own attachment fittings and so U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,140 suffers the same limitation as U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,327 in that the user would be required to walk around or climb into the cargo bed to operate the system.